Love to Burn
by GrandiloquentHeartlessness
Summary: "'Who was it?" he asked quietly. He looked almost sad." Missing scene from the episode "18" in the 3rd season.


**A/N: **This is basically a missing scene from the beginning of the episode "18" from season three. The ending of this would essentially go right into the beginning of the episode.

**Disclaimer: **This _is_ rated M for a reason, but I didn't break canon (i.e., it is very specifically stated in "Your Time's Gonna Come" that Jude is a virgin, and this takes place well before that) and this story is almost entirely conversation, not sexytimes.

* * *

On some level, Jude couldn't believe this was really happening.

They were in her rehearsal space, which had very quickly become her favorite place in the world. He'd lit candles and brought food, and they had put a blanket and cushions on the rug by the piano. She hadn't really known what to expect from him, honestly, but, as it turned out, Tommy could really do the romantic date thing.

Perhaps it should have felt like it was all moving too fast. Until a few days ago she could count on one hand the number of times they had kissed, and now his lips were on her neck and he had slipped a hand under the back of her shirt, his calloused fingers on the smooth skin of her lower back sending shivers up and down her spine.

But, despite how quickly this should have felt like it was going, when Tommy undid one of the buttons on her shirt and looked up at her for permission to continue, she didn't hesitate before unbuttoning the rest and removing it. The only other guy with whom she had ever gone this far was Spiederman, who had removed her shirt and bra during a handful of frenzied makeout sessions. She had always felt kind of nervous being so exposed to Spied, but something about Tommy made her feel strangely calm, and there was nothing frenzied about the deliberate way she unhooked her bra, watching his face as she removed it from her arms. She saw his breath hitch, and he murmured something like "oh my god" and she felt a surge of happiness that she, young, inexperienced Jude, could have any sort of effect on a man like Tom Quincy.

He leaned forward to kiss her, positioning himself between her legs and slowly laying her back onto the pillows behind her. He moved his lips to her jaw and she murmured "I think you're a little overdressed, Tommy" into his ear. He chuckled and pulled back, removing his jacket and pulling his shirt over his head. Jude realized, as he did so, that she had never seen _him_ shirtless either. She had dreamed about it enough times, but this was nothing like that. For one thing, she had never seen the entirety of the tattoos on his upper arms before.

That realization was so ridiculous that she almost laughed, but Tommy's expression darkened suddenly and it caught her off-guard. There was a desire there that made her pulse quicken and the muscles clench in her belly, but there was something else, too, a fierce sort of possessiveness, and it almost frightened her.

He trailed his fingers down her torso on both sides and she shivered. "Which one of them was it?" He asked quietly.

"What?" Her voice was breathless.

He put a hand on her breast and she let out a gasp as he rubbed a thumb over one of her nipples. "Who was it?" He looked almost sad as he moved his hand lightly down her body to the waistband of her jeans.

"I don't... I don't know what you mean."

"Who got to touch you here?" He whispered, stroking a finger down the zipper of her jeans, dipping lower and eliciting another little gasp from Jude. "Spiederman?" His gaze followed his hand up the side seam of her pant leg to her knee and back down.

"N-no." Jude stammered quietly. Even through her jeans the sensation was driving her insane, and she couldn't quite put together what he was trying to ask. "Spied never... We never..."

Anger flashed in his eyes and he removed his hands completely. "Shay, then? You were 15? And then he cheated on you. God, I should've kicked his ass when I had the chance."

"What?" She shook her head and sat up, thoroughly confused now. "I never did more than kiss Shay..."

"Oh." Tommy looked surprised. "So you lost your virginity to Andrews, then?" He frowned, muttering "Huh._That_ was an image I didn't need."

She crossed her arms. "What?! No, I didn't. What are you talking about?"

"Then who?" Sadness filled his expression again. "Not some one-night stand? Oh, Jude."

She sighed, exasperated, and blurted out "No one!"

He nodded slowly. "Right, of course. It's none of my business. I'm sorry."

"_No_." She corrected him, suddenly embarrassed. "I mean_ no one_. I- I haven't... This is as far as I've gone. With anyone."

"So you're..." He looked confused. "But... Karma. That press conference. The whole media circus."

"Are you kidding me?" She let out a disbelieving laugh. "Karma _lied_, Tommy. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's kind of what she does."

He still looked confused. "Why didn't you deny it then?"

"Because it's not their business, for one thing, and for another... getting up there and denying it would be like saying I thought there was something wrong with it. I want people to judge me based on my music, not my sex life. Yes, I'm a virgin, but it doesn't make me a better musician or role model or person than if I wasn't, and it doesn't make me a worse one either."

"Wow." Tommy said quietly, genuinely impressed with the maturity of that statement.

"So no." She continued. "I haven't... I've never had sex. I just... I wanted it to be special, or something. I don't know." She sighed and hung her head. "You probably think I'm stupid."

"Oh, no way, girl." Tommy said, and Jude looked up, surprised. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "No. Way. That's the furthest thing from stupid."

"But you've–"

"Done a lot of _really_ stupid things." He finished. "Sex..." He sighed. "For a long time, sex meant nothing to me. It was the furthest thing from... special. And I'm not saying I should've saved myself or anything, but _only_ having meaningless sex is not smart, or cool, or... Well, it's pretty stupid." He put a hand on the side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "And then I met you. And you're basically the opposite of every girl I've ever been with, but you're..." He shook his head, unable to find the words. "I don't know, Jude. You're... everything I never knew I wanted. You're talented, and beautiful, and you just... we get each other." He sighed again. "But you were also my fifteen-year-old artist. Way _way_ out of bounds."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Tommy." Jude protested.

He smiled. "I know. Believe me, girl, I know. But what I mean is, you woke me up. I have never even taken this" he kissed her softly on the lips "for granted with you. Every kiss, every touch... I couldn't afford to think of any of it as meaningless. This, you, us... it's important, Jude. And you are not stupid for wanting to wait for something like that."

Jude linked her hands behind his neck and pulled herself up to kiss him. He returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her, but broke away after a moment. "So I think we should wait." He murmured in her ear. She pulled back, confused. "Until you're eighteen." He explained. "I want it to be special."

"And this isn't special?" She laughed, gesturing at the candles.

Tommy grinned. "Eh. This is average."

Jude rolled her eyes, knowing he had put effort into this date. She trailed a finger over his bicep and said, "But you really do want to wait until I'm eighteen?"

He nodded. "If it's alright with you. I've gotten good at waiting for you."

She looked amused. "You do realize my birthday is tomorrow, right?"

"Hey." He pulled her to him again with a wink. "I said we should wait," he murmured against the skin of her neck, "not that we should wait a long time."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Waiting, then." She pulled away from him, reaching over to get a strawberry.

He watched her eat it and said "Hey, Harrison?" She turned to him. "If we're waiting..."

"Yes?" She asked innocently.

"I think I'm going to need you to put your clothes back on." His voice was low, and he didn't try to keep the desire out of his expression.

She laughed and took in the image of his bare chest again "Mmm, likewise, Quincy."

* * *

**A/N:** I'm not wild about this story. Fathers Day and Goodbye, for example, are much better one shots in my opinion, but the whole conversation came to me as I was falling asleep, and I could not get rid of it.

Like I said, I wrote this for the conversation, not the sex, (you can probably tell, sorry if you were expecting some erotica here, can't say I didn't warn you) and it still turned out more explicit than anything I've published in the past.

But I digress. Thank you for reading! Your reviews would be verily appreciated. (Pssst. It's my birthday. You should review for my birthday)


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